A Battle for India’s Soul

Every Indian general election beats its predecessor’s record to become the largest in world history. This time, Indian voters must decide whether they want an inclusive country that embodies hope, or a divided one that promotes fear.

NEW DELHI – As India gears up for its general election, one must not lose sight of the sheer size of the exercise, which has been described as the “biggest humanly managed event in the world.” Starting on April 11 and ending on May 23, 900 million eligible voters (including 15 million first-time voters) will decide the fate of nearly 10,000 candidates representing over 500 political parties vying for the 545 seats in the Lok Sabha (House of the People). Every Indian general election beats its predecessor’s record to become the largest in world history. And none of the preceding 16 Lok Sabha elections has been as politically momentous as the coming one.

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The election is staggered across seven phases that will take place between April 11 and May 19, with all ballots counted by May 23. Larger states such Uttar Pradesh in northern India, which sends 80 MPs to the Lok Sabha, vote in each of these phases, while others finish in a day. My own constituency of Thiruvananthapuram, the capital of the southern state of Kerala, where I am campaigning for a third term, will vote in the third (and largest) phase of the election on April 23, along with 114 other constituencies from 14 states.

The Election Commission of India (ECI), the body tasked to carry out this monumental project, will set up one million polling stations and 2.33 million ballot units. They will be manned by over 11 million staff (many of whom will be drawn from various government agencies across the country) who will travel by whatever mode of transport – from buses and trains to elephants and camels – to reach the last voter. The ECI’s own stipulation that no voter should have to travel more than two kilometers to reach a polling station can give rise to some remarkable situations. In the last election, a polling booth had to be set up in a forest in Western India to cater to one resident voter. Another was set up in the Himalayas at 4,500 meters (15,000 feet) above sea level – the highest polling booth in the world.

Despite the exuberance, expenditure, and all-encompassing nature of India’s quinquennial festival of democracy, voter participation remains a key concern. The 2014 elections recorded the highest turnout since 1952, but even this only amounted to 66.4% of the electorate. This is similar to the findings of an informal poll I conducted on Twitter: only 66% of the 15,000 respondents said that they were registered and intended to vote in the coming elections.

This is worrying. By consciously abstaining from the process, one-third of India’s voters are inadvertently abdicating their role and responsibility in deciding the country’s political destiny – and at a time when the stakes are too high to be ignored.

Over the past five years, India has borne the weight of the government’s misconceived policies and airy speechmaking. For all the lofty talk by the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) about bringing about achhe din (good days) and a New India, prosaic reality bites: Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s administration in New Delhi has failed to address ordinary people’s real needs. Results from recent state assembly elections, where the BJP was shown the door, have made that much clear.

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There is no shortage of reasons for voters’ unhappiness with the current state of affairs. Across the country, agrarian distress has been immense: suicides are at a record high,and farmers across the country have risen in protest against the government’s inept approach to solving their problems. Similarly, the revelation that the government consciously sought to bury a report showing that unemployment has reached a 45-year high has fueled widespread skepticism about official GDP growth figures. After the failure of the authorities’ demonetization scheme in 2016, followed by its poor implementation of a cumbersome five-rate Goods and Services Tax, the economy has entered a tailspin, and no amount of data chicanery would make a good case for giving the BJP another chance.

The government has entered panic mode and announced a slew of freebies – including an income support program for farmers and an increased tax exemption limit on income levels – in its last budget. But it has been too little, too late.

So now the BJP is seeking to capitalize on the recent terrorist attack by Jaish-e-Mohammed in Pulwama, which killed 40 Indian paramilitary troops and stoked tensions with Pakistan (where Jaish-e-Mohammed is based), by portraying itself as the most effective defender of India’s national security. In its unseemly effort to distract the voters from their failures in office, the party is hoping to turn the upcoming election into a khaki referendum, in which cross-border violence and national security supersede the daily terror of poverty, economic distress, and communal tension.

Indian voters must make two decisions. One is of course which candidate they want to represent them in the Lok Sabha. But voters face a more fundamental choice: Do they want an inclusive India that embodies hope, or a divided country that promotes fear?

Shashi Tharoor, a former UN under-secretary-general and former Indian Minister of State for Human Resource Development and Minister of State for External Affairs, is currently an MP for the Indian National Congress and Chairman of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on External Affairs. He is the author of Pax Indica: India and the World of the 21st Century.

Shashi Tharoor explains how the world’s biggest democracy begins this week its 40-day process of choosing a new government, starting on April 11 and ending on May 23. Some 900 million Indian voters will go to the polls to decide the fate of nearly 10,000 candidates representing over 500 political parties vying for the 545 seats in the parliament. The stake cannot be higher, as they must decide whether they “want an inclusive country that embodies hope, or a divided one that promotes fear,” and favours the country’s wealthiest over the poor.According to the author, the Election Commission of India (ECI) ensures that “no voter should have to travel more than two kilometers to reach a polling station.” It sets up one million polling stations and 2.33 million ballot units, managed by over 11 million staff, who will travel by buses, trains, elephants and camels to reach each voter anywhere in the country. In 2014 a polling booth had to be set up in a forest in Western India to cater to one resident voter. Another was set up in the Himalayas at 4,500 meters (15,000 feet) above sea level – the highest polling booth in the world.It remains to be seen whether this year’s turnout will be higher than in 2014, which recorded the highest turnout since 1952, amounting to 66.4% of the electorate. Narendra Modi won big in part on promises to create millions of jobs. Many young Indians, hungry for work and frustrated by corruption, enthusiastically backed him. But he has failed to boost the economy and create jobs, with unemployment rate reaching 6.1%, the highest rate in 45 years. The 2016 demonetization scheme was a failure, and the cumbersome five-rate Goods and Services Tax poorly implemented, taking a toll on growth. The author mentions the record-high suicide rates among farmers. Years of droughts and crop failures have wrecked their businesses. The government has favoured policies that keep food prices low to benefit the country’s urban masses, at the expense of farmers and farm workers who make up nearly half of the country’s voters. They stage protests in Delhi regularly in the past three years to air their grievances, and the government has sought to win them over with a series of cash handouts.Modi is the staunchest Hindu nationalist ever to be prime minister, ruining India’s reputation as a tolerant country. His victory has empowered his followers to reject India’s secular DNA. A strong Modi victory in this year’s election would be a green light for the fanatic Hindutva activists to continue rewriting school books, reforming the law to protect sacred cows, and encouraging police to turn a blind eye to Hindu violence against Muslims and other minorities. The conflict with Pakistan has put national security high on the election agenda, and Modi has fashioned himself as the nation’s security guard.Critics, including the Congress party president Rahul Gandhi, say Modi has governed with an iron fist and spent five years undermining the country’s independent institutions: meddling in the supreme court, the reserve bank, and the national statistics office; and intimidating the media. He has also been accused of misusing the country’s police and intelligence services, with some opposition leaders saying they only speak on the phone using the encrypted messaging service WhatsApp – fearing that their phone calls and data use are being monitored. Modi supporters say he needs another term to tackle land reform, goods and services tax; bring in a national bankruptcy law and a social security scheme – the world’s largest free medical sheme for the poor; and continue rolling out Aadhaar, the world’s largest biometric identity database. His Hindu nationalist base suggests, he needs more time to reshape the nation’s character and institutions from the secular, multicultural vision of India’s first prime minister, Jawarharlal Nehru, into the essentially Hindu nation the country really is at its core. Indeed, this year’s election will be closely watched, especially by China and Pakistan.

I must say here is that Mr Shashi Taroor is big mouth here and he is such a intelligent person but bind to work under such a stupid party leader well known by the name of "pappu" its mean foolish person and arrowing toward Rahul gandhi may be in my word this is some kind of slavery which congress party provided to this nation even sharp mind is not able to brought difference.

For all the Non Indian readers around the world. Mr. Tharoor is from Congress which ruled India for several decades. In those several decades they failed to resolve the issues that he is talking about: poverty, economic distress, etc. Instead, there was corruption, huge scams, misallocation of public assets. Now, there party is fighting for the very existence by announcing frivolous schemes like giving 72000 for poor people each year, instead of giving them proper means of education and employment they want poor to stay poor. Thank you Mr Tharoor, but we don't want you or your party for another several decades. I am not supporting any party. This are my thoughts. Regards

INCLUSIVENESS - DYNASTY ONLY SEES RELIGION, NOT REGIONAL INEQUALITIESThe author cannot see the Economic Geography that is Dynasty's lasting legacy.The Marginalized Majority in The Urdu/Hindi Heartlands - voted for Modi.In the hope that India's Economics will be realigned with Democracy.Modinomics failure was writ large when it's focus was GST and Demonetization.Neither would bring about the Realignment of Economics with Democracy.Migration from The Heartlands outwards is the clearest LITMUS TEST.Skewed sovereign economic development - had marginalised The Heartlands.Instead of attacking Modinomics for this blatant myopia, it is Religion again.Modinomics simply became CongressPlusCow Economics.Modinomics simply became Old Wine in Saffron Bottles.Nobody believes Two Global Religions are more Secular than the Third.Yet the Author never fails to reiterate this central tenet of Dynasty's Faith.

The credit for Congress unexpected success clearly is due to Caste Chemistry.Casteism is the bane of Hinduism - the Congress relishes in leveraging Caste.In Seven Decades, policies have exacerbated its ruinous consequences.Instead of extinguishing its existence, the Congress has amplified its poison.Caste Certificates are now routinely required at Employment Exchanges.Instead of attacking Modinomics failure in demolition of Dynasty's Economics.Demolition of Dynasty's Politics is not enough for Modimantra to win again.

80 % of BJP Members of Parliament hail from The Heartlands.Modinomics failure in realignment of Economics with Democracy is critical.Yet the Author suggests Inclusiveness focussed on Religion never Region.No wonder Rahul seeks a safe haven in Kerala - where Hindus are a minority.Suggesting Priyanka perhaps seeks safety in Goa - where Hindus are a minority.

Tharoor admits that the last election, in which the BJP took power, was one where Indian voters chose an inclusive country that embodies hope. This was because his own party was utterly hopeless and so socially exclusive as to obsequiously serve a hereditary dynasty. This time, since the Opposition is in better shape, Tharoor tells us, Indian voters must decide whether they want an inclusive country that embodies hope, or a divided one that promotes fear. They didn't have to decide this last time because Modi and the BJP stand for hope and inclusivity. What has changed between this time and last time? The answer is that Rahul Gandhi has come out as a sacred thread wearing Brahman. Tharoor himself has written a book called 'Why I am a Hindu'. His party in Kerala opposes the entry of women into a particular shrine. Rahul, rather strangely, is contesting a seat from Kerala as well from his North Indian pocket borough. What does all this portend?

Last time round Congress did not put up a Prime Ministerial candidate. This time Congress is too weak to go it alone. No rival candidate has been named to take on Modi. It seems, Indian politicians realize that they don't have what it takes to govern India- more especially at this time of economic crisis. They prefer to carp and criticize- which is their right- but to wait it out till some measure of prosperity has been restored. Then they will challenge the BJP with one voice so as to feast off the spoils of office. Meanwhile, no doubt, there are books to be written and articles syndicated.

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